The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Computer networks, television networks, and telephone networks are experiencing an unprecedented technological expansion, fueled by consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed consumer demands while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer.
The ubiquity of network communications has enabled municipalities to manage various aspects of infrastructure from remote locations while improving the utilization and reducing downtime of infrastructure components available for public use. For example, monitoring and recording consumption of utilities such as water, sewer, electricity, and gas provided to homes and businesses through a network of physical conduits has long been a manually intensive process involving meter-reading employees visually inspecting and recording the indicated consumption on meters at each physical location. The networking of wireless meters and the ability to read meters remotely has not only reduced the manual labor required, but also improved the accuracy of meter reading through the elimination of manual recording errors. Further, the infrastructure of roadways has also benefited from network communication capabilities by allowing municipalities to monitor traffic flow remotely at various locations throughout a network of roadways. These networks may also control or monitor traffic lights that meter flow of traffic through intersections, enabling traffic flows to be better monitored and controlled based on changing traffic patterns.